The day daylight disappeared

World War II and Korean War veteran Bob Reichard of East Penn Township, Carbon County, is mentioned in Stephen E. Ambrose's new book, "The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys who Flew the B-24s Over Germany."

Ambrose, whose previous books include "D-Day," "Citizen Soldiers" and "Band of Brothers," quotes Reichard in a section about the flak the Liberator crews faced during bombing missions over German- occupied Europe in November 1944.

"The barrage was so intense that the daylight disappeared and it was as if someone had cut out the sun," said Reichard, who was with the 456th Bombardment Group of the 15th Army Air Force.

The quote, which appears on Page 161 of "The Wild Blue," comes from a story titled "Flak" that Reichard had posted on his Web site, www.456thbombgroup.org/reichard.html.

At the end of 1950, Reichard served with a military police company in North Korea as the Chinese closed in on the Marines breaking out from the Chosin Reservoir.

His personal account of the hurried evacuation from the port of Hungnam appeared in The Morning Call's special Veterans Day section in 1999, "War Stories of the Century."

Though he's pleased that Ambrose saw fit to include him in the book, Reichard does have a small bone to pick with the esteemed historian: Ambrose identifies him as a pilot; he was a bombardier.